Paratur Pax Bello
by Andrew McCloud
Summary: Forget everything you thought you knew about Star Fox. What follows is a story that conforms 100% to the series' canon while twisting everything you thought you knew about its history. If you want to know what -really- happened, look no further.
1. Prologue: Destiny

**Prologue: Destiny**

Sometimes the world we live in feels like a place of constant struggle. As if, for some ungodly reason, we are meant to rise and fall on the waves and whims of trite emotions and condemning injustices brought on by the auspices of some faint and failing force that has yet to truly show its meaning. Sometimes the struggle is never enough for it. It lives and feeds on the very principle that we, as a society of individuals seeking some unrequited salvation, can never stop ourselves from running each other off the streets with pitchforks and torches (mere tools of insanity and impropriety) while still begetting the true question of our existence—that we live and die for a purpose we don't understand, a purpose only definable by that very _essence_ which we wish so much to hide from.

Yet… it needs more. Always more. It doesn't just want the terror and chaos of millennia of struggle to spill over into the greatest age of our lives, but it wants the complete and utter destruction of all nature to be brought down on the knees of humanity—to make us beg for it, the end.

Sometimes we have no choice but to stand by and watch as the entirety of civilization is roped into such a gruesome chasm of black and burning hellfire as it laughs at our grim attempts to sway the very destiny of our destruction. Our end.

And yet, still sometimes, there are days when you want to take the nearest, bluntest object you can find and cut its cackling head off at the closest, ghastly vertebrae.

Today is one of those days.

As second became minute, minute became hour, and hour became the endless sea of seconds that had beget it, it became apparent to everyone in the room that this was not any ordinary day. No, today would be the day that a decision was made that would decide the very existence…. or extinction, of the Lylatian race—perhaps the entire universe. And nowhere in the room could it be more realized than on the drooping face of the newly promoted General Pepper. Though crass and occasionally inspiring on most days, the rough, tough, and rugged hound dog that stood in the front of the rusting and condemnable room was neither of these things today. He was, in fact, despite every best effort on his part to look as calm and collected as possible, portraying an emotion neither of the men in the room had ever seen from the canine—fear. Complete and utter terror at what the trio had recently discovered.

_Tick._

The 20-something esteemed vulpine pilot shrug the palm of his hand from his tensed muzzle, hitting the cold, steel table with a _twap_. He turned a bloodshot eye to the clock on the wall that stared defiantly back, as if daring him to wage a war on it that neither side could recover from. The young-turned-old pilot switched his attention to the ape scientist on his right as he turned around from washing his hands and threw them carelessly at his face, as if giving a half-assed attempt to drown the wrinkles off of the battlefield that was his aging mug.

_Drip._

_Tock._

A sigh emerged from the pilot as he considered resting his face on the cold, uncaring table, then simply pushed his chair away with a heave of his arm and a guttural motion of unpleasantness as he took up a new angle tapping his fingers on the hardened, death-chilled device with four legs.

_Click-clack-click._

_Tick._

_Driiiiip._

_Tock._

He smirked to himself as the ape doctor pulled his chair out and sat back down, rubbing those large hairy palms over his documents (becoming ever damp from the lack of a sufficient hand-drying). 'Sometimes I feel like he just doesn't-'

"Gentlemen, if you will…" The General began to speak again, for the first time in what seemed like decades. "I'd like to go over the arrangements one more time. I know this isn't easy for either of you…"

'Isn't easy for either of us? He isn't sacrificing anything. The doctor is going into hiding, _I_ am-'

_Tick._

'Vixy…..'

_Tock._

_Drip._

_Drip._

_Drip._

_Driiiiiii-_

_-ip._

A startle, then black.

The stench of putrid decay and feces lined the walls. It took all his best efforts to ensure that he wouldn't regurgitate his last meal from the monstrosity of it all. Like it would have mattered.

Thick blackness enveloped the air, only scannable by the airy gray that lined the dim cascading dirt-light that was the bulb hanging from the ceiling. Were it possible, he might have seen that the rust covered walls were actually covered in the blood of those that suffered and died in what would become the greatest venture of war in Lylatian history. So acclaimed, the 'Lylat War'. Unfortunately for those poor fellows, and almost everyone in Lylatian Society, it all meant nothing. At least, it meant nothing in terms of the War at hand. Rather, the 'perceived' war at hand.

The fox spat what he assumed was a muzzle-full of day-old blood. He wiped the back of his ragged paw over his still injured face. 'I can't believe that bastard did me up this good. I swear to God when I get my chance I'm gonna kick his ass so hard he-'

_Click-clack. Sheeeek._

"Come now James, we don't want you to be late for your" a gruff hand on his arm, and a forceful uplifting as the figure heaved with great effort "…_appointment."_

The vulpine was helped off the grungy floor, with great effort this took (mind you), and drag/pulled out of the cell by the 'assisting' hand of Dr. Andross. Dr. Andross, esteemed researcher of the Cornerian Army. Dr. Andross, stark-raving madman bent on world destruction. Dr. Andross, Emperor of Venom. Dr. Andross… Savior of Lylat.

"And just why the hell…" A few gasps, as if the ace pilot were actually in need of support, "do you think you have the right to make me look like this?" he said with a growing aggravation in his tone.

The emperor chuckled, a deep growling chuckle, as he nearly choked himself in glee. "My dear boy, you don't think I could just let you waltz in there without a scratch on you and think that old Peppy Hare would truly believe you were to be killed? Come now, James, you know your best friend more than that."

The vulpine pilot spat out another mouthful of saliva and pooled blood, aiming it at the ape's feet in protest. Staring at him with disdain through swollen eyelids he replied, "I… suppose not."

'It doesn't change the fact that I hate lying to him. He's my best friend for God's sake. If I knew I'd have to do this I'd never-'

"James. Don't even think it, boyo. You've given far too much already to let this stop you. Think of what _I've_ had to do to-"

The vulpine quickly cut him off mid-sentence, holding his ground (quite literally) as he growled at the tall, stout doctor. "Don't you _dare_. Don't you _fucking_ dare, Andross. I realize you've caused the deaths of thousands of millions of fellow citizens but you do _not_ get to complain about it to _me._"

The ape, taken aback, had a look of shock and reproach on his long face. A few moments passed, and then the vulpine turned to begin walking again. "Let's _go._"

"James, I… "

"Forget it. We have more important things to do."

The scarred pilot walked on down the dingy hallway, unsure of where he was even going, leaving the 'mad scientist' to stare down into the darkness of memory. "… loved her too…."


	2. Chapter 1: Truth

**Chapter I: Truth**

_Corneria, fourth planet of the Lylat system. The evil Andross turned this once thriving system into a wasteland of near extinction. _

_General Pepper of the Cornerian Army was successful in exiling this maniacal scientist to the barren, deserted planet Venom._

_Five years later, General Pepper noticed strange activity coming from Venom. James McCloud, Pigma Dengar, and Peppy Hare of the Star Fox team were sent to investigate. Upon their arrival, Pigma betrayed the team and James and Peppy were captured by Andross._

_Peppy barely escaped Venom to tell James' son Fox about his father's fate._

_A few years have passed. Andross has again invaded the Lylat system. General Pepper has turned to a new Star Fox team headed by Fox McCloud to save Corneria and free the Lylat system once again._

It's blinding, the darkness. So bright with the God's honest truth of our fate that we can do nothing but avoid it. Most will simply live their lives in the daylight, going about their trivial duties as if serving some purpose in the greater workings of a large oiled machine, without wondering into the mystery and horror that is the shadow of destiny. Of _truth_.

How is it that society can continue to drudge through the burning falsities of sunlight when reality so clearly resides in the openness of dark, black _nothing_?

The frivolities of 'truth' and 'justice' are mere hypothetical ponderings of the weak and simple-minded fools that continue to walk our streets because of _our_ actions, _our _knowledge, _our_…

Sins, as vast and numerous as they can be found in this world, bring to light the basic understanding that no matter how wickedly pathetic our civilization may become it will always harbor the safety and security so sought after by those incessant fools that insist on living in a society made up of those queer ideas of 'truth' and 'justice'.

What do _they_ know about truth? What do they consider to be _justifiable_ in a world that would see a mother sentenced to life in prison for assaulting her husband with a baseball bat while the same man gets a wag of a finger and six months in a jail cell somewhere for sexually abusing their only daughter?

Mere examples and situations that I don't care nor have the time to explain or categorize. Pitiful claims to try and give meaning to this chaotic and vague existence we live in. To derive some reasons for the pain and suffering that is caused on a _day to day _basis.

If you want truth, you must be willing to end your very existence, as it is your existence that prevents you from seeing. And if you want justice, be prepared to face your creator at the gates, for he is the only one that can deliver you _justice_.

Not that it will matter much anyway—we're all going to hell for what we've done.

"So…" began the wrinkly, misshapen lips of the highly decorated general in the front of the briefing room. He brought his caramel brown paw, bleeding sweat, up against his forehead—attempting to somehow relieve the unbelievable stress that was just placed upon his shoulders. "You're saying… what again, exactly?" As if delaying the situation any longer by playing the 'ignorant' card would help the situation become any less tense.

"What I'm _saying_ is that unless you allow me to get to work on this right away we are _all_ going to _die_." The broad-shouldered research scientist wasted no time by stepping lightly with his words. After all, how else is there to approach certain demise?

'Heh,' the rustic furred vulpine thought 'too bad it can't just be him.'

"J-James are you even listening?!" The doctor gave a look of frustration and complete hysteria, his time to slow the apocalypse fast closing.

The fox pilot lilted in his chair before rising with a heavy breath and sighing as he moved to the nearest straight-jacket-white wall and leaned on it. He slowly brought his body around to face the General and Dr. Andross as he pushed the dark sunglasses off his muzzle and atop his short buzz-cut, revealing his piercing green eyes. "I'm listening just fine. So far, though, you haven't really _said_ anything."

A fumbling glare arose from the deep cliff-like forehead of the ape as he continued. "It is only a matter of time before the situation worsens, and then we have a galactic-level catastrophe on our hands! Before, this wasn't nearly as much of an issue, and we've been fast at work studying the specimens on Solar and Aquas. But now, with the discovery of that new planet housing at least a _dozen_ of these things and the recent Aparoid incident we-"

The General gave a gruff _ahem_ as he cut in, "You're welcome for that, by the way. If I hadn't tied it down you'd be swarmed by investigators from the Bureau by now." The dog had a rough smirk on his face and then nodded for the doctor to continue.

Andross tipped his head towards the General and squinted his eyes as if searching for a reason to give his gratitude. "…yes. Thank you." The ape scientist stood straight again, recovering from some lost sense of ground and pride, and then continued after a distracted cough. "We must formulate a strategy quickly if we are to prevent our demise. We're slowly making progress in our research but as the General so _humbly_ noted, I can't keep it up forever before the wrong people start sniffing around and discover us." The scientist gives a _huff_ before shaking his head and looking at the General. "What are we going to do? If any of this gets discovered I'll end up in a jail cell and you'll be court-martialed for sure."

The hound dog gives an irritated growl of desperation as he paces across the room, as if groping for some plan that is just out of reach. "We can't let it get that far. If it is as you say then every precaution must be undertaken to ensure that this operation is not discovered or it could mean the extinction of the Lylatian race as well as any other cognitive beings out there."

The General approaches the center table and faces the other two men in the room as he firmly pushes his hands down against it, trying to hold back the force of anxiety that was quickly approaching. He continued, "Dr. Andross, what about your work on Venom? I know for a fact the Bureau has no idea of the work going on there."

The ape researcher tapped an enlarged index finger on his chin below his lip with a look of fascination and consideration. "It is true that the atmosphere and lack of restriction there has led to perfect conditions for my work, but it is only a matter of time before my operations there are discovered as well. The whole situation is too provocative and I'm already being watched too closely to conduct anything substantial. And even if I were to 'disappear' they would surely discover our intentions. No, we need a cover-up—a damn good one, too."

McCloud, silent until now, finally moved away from the wall that was his support and approached the table. "Listen, I was with that fleet and there is no way we can take another hit like that. Even _I_ barely made it out of there. Hell, we don't even know where the bastard _came _from. As far as I'm concerned keeping this from exploding into a system-wide panic is top priority. I don't even want to think of what might happen if my own family were to find out about this, let alone-"

_Beep._

The vulpine perked his ears in surprise as he looked down to his phone at his hip. "… shit. I'm sorry General I thought I turned it off, this'll just take a second." He picked the small metallic device off of his hip and flipped it open. "Honey you know not to call me when-"

"D-dad? Mom told me to call you; sh-she went to go after them."

Pulse. But the beating of his heart picked up and felt like it carried his very soul up into his throat. "…son, what's going on?"

"S-someone's here dad. I don't know who but mom said to call, that you'd know what to do. Dad I'm scared, I-"

"Don't _move_, Fox. I'll be right there."

_Click_.

And with that, the famous pilot James McCloud was out the door, leaving the stunned pair of General Pepper and Dr. Andross behind to wonder just what had taken place.

The clinking together of shackles could be heard as the hare began to awaken from within his cell. The cold musk of the prison block was filled with scent of tortured victims that either possessed no secrets or chose to take them to the grave. The poor creature that was still barely clinging to life for some God-forsaken reason had been beaten in more than one way. And it was about to get worse.

_Clink-clank. Clink-clank._

He tipped his ears forward like satellites picking up a distress beacon in the endless abyss of space. The hare squinted through what seemed like an endless forest of rust-covered bars and iron frames as he attempted to make out the figure that was approaching.

Average height, silver-white boots, green pants and shirt, gray jacket, … and red scarf.

James.

And from the looks of it, he was being accompanied by two guards and someone else. But who was that? The man continued to lean forward in his cell to get a better look at the scene that was beginning to unfold. He just couldn't quite make out…

_Andross!_ The hare gave all he could to keep from ripping the very bars off of his cell.

"You son of a _bitch! _What the hell did you do to him you sick bastard?! When I get out of here I'm gonna-"

The group came to a halt several cells away and the ape turned his attention to the figure in the cell. "Why, Peppy, is that anyway to talk me, the _Emperor_ of Venom? Bite your tongue or we'll finish you off just as well." The emperor motioned for the guards to take James further down the line away from the hare's cell and out of eyesight.

"What do you mean _as well_?! What do you intend to-"

The man was cutoff as Andross walked off and waved for the guards to leave. He then took out his pistol and fired as a torrent of blood and brains splattered onto the opposite wall.

The echo of the shot could not be heard as the screams from Peppy Hare grossly drowned it out. After a few more moments, he fell into the dark chasm of unconsciousness.

"Come on, we need to get you back to my quarters before he wakes up and the guards come back down for the shift change." Andross walked into the cell he had the guards throw James in and pulled him off the ground.

"Alright, alright. Geez, let me get the pieces of brain out of my fur first. Did you really have to kill that guy?"

The ape shook his head as he continued to pull the fox to their destination. "Always have to be the nice guy, eh James? The theatrics helped push Hare over the edge and keep our story even more believable for the people on Corneria. Don't forget what will happen if they discover-"

"I know, I know. You better have some damn good living accommodations is all I have to say. Pepper isn't paying us near enough for this…" James replied as he trudged along down the endless hall of moldy cells towards the elevator.

Andross chuckled as he swiftly followed the vulpine down the hallway to their exit. "Always money with you, McCloud. I suppose that's why we make such good partners though, isn't it? Don't worry about Hare, I'll make sure he 'escapes' the premises. I just wonder how your little one back home is going to take hearing the news of his daddy-"

Despite the fox's current condition, Andross was unable to get out of the way quick enough as James spun around and pinned him up against the nearest cell with all the strength he had. "Don't you _ever_ talk about my son like that again, do you understand? I'm doing this to protect him and every other creature out there. And _you_ are doing it for the same _fucking_ reason! So don't even start this discussion because you know _exactly_ where it ends." He pushed the ape back against the cell one more time for emphasis before walking back towards the elevator.

Andross slowly turned and began to follow James back to their destination before adding, "How can you be so sure that General Pepper will be able to keep everything isolated? The projects on Aquas and Solar are getting out of control and we're just getting ready to begin the operation on Cerinia. Not to even mention the fact that your 'death' will bring the wrath of Corneria on my doorstep. He may have power but he can't expect to be sitting pretty if the population what's my head on a platter."

James frowned as he stopped in front of the elevator to let Andross enter first. "Don't worry—General Pepper is no fool. We knew what the cost of this war was gonna be when we agreed on this course of action six years ago. Get ready for a fight—you'll have plenty to worry about when the Army amasses. I wouldn't worry too much though; I know that the General will delay a conflict as long as possible."

Andross moved into the elevator and turned to give the vulpine a doubtful look. "What war? We haven't even had so much as a skirmish yet."

As the fox pilot entered the elevator and turned to face the hallway he finished, "I wasn't referring to our _distraction_—I was referring to our _war_."

The heavy metal doors slowly ground to a halt as the fox left his old life behind and began the ascent into his new life. Into his _destiny_.

_Clink._

The pistol, smoking, hit the floor with a clatter as the world-renowned vulpine pilot sunk in the nearest chair and huffed a sigh of relief.

'This one was a lot easier to kill than the bastard that took down the fleet. But, how did it find…' His thoughts were cut short as his wife, Vixy Reinard peeked through the doorway to check and make sure everything was alright. He had taken the precaution of alerting the Doctor and General Pepper of the situation so they could extract the specimen for containment and research so he motioned that it was alright for her to come out.

To his surprise, though, there was one other person slightly more excited to get out of the locked room. "Daddy!" The kit ran from behind his mother and jumped into his father's worn arms, hugging as tight as his skinny arms could manage, as if God was about to pull him right off the planet.

James winced as he was winded with a _thud_. "Hey kid. It's good to see you too, son." He smiled at the cub's enthusiasm and then looked up at his beautiful wife whom turned his joy into bitter sorrow and remorse. He tried all he could to suppress it but there was no hiding exactly what the man was thinking.

"Hey buddy, would you give your mom and I a minute? We need to go over what happened while I was gone. Why don't you give your friends a call and see if they can spend the night tonight."

"Oh man, _really_?! Thank you, thank you, _thank you!_" The kit hugged the elder fox even harder, if it were possible, and then rushed off into the kitchen to call his friends.

With the cub out of earshot, James stood and kissed his wife slowly and passionately, savoring the moment as if tomorrow may never come. But like everything, all good things must come to an end. He broke the kiss and looked down into his wife's eyes. "Vixy… what happened?"

She looked back into his solemn green eyes as she began to dredge up dried tears. "Oh James… I'm not even sure. All I can remember is that I walked into the living room and that…" She paused to consider for a moment as if it were a taboo "…what _was_ that? Why was it here James? Is this what all of those meetings have been about that you've been going to? I thought we _talked_ about this James; we're going to settle down, look after our family! You promised me, James. You-" The vixen now had tears streaming down her face, too upset to continue with the discussion.

"Vixy, please don't be upset, honey. Listen, I need you to stay strong, ok? Did Fox see that thing? Does he know what it was?"

"…what? No, of course not. I put him in our room as quickly as I could, I think he still thinks it was a burglar but we need to tell him in case another one of those things-"

"No," the fox cut her off in desperation. "We can't tell him. He has to think it was a burglar—he can never know, for his own good. You can't tell anyone about th-"

It was the vixen's turn to cut him off as she blurted out at him, "The _hell _I won't! What are we supposed to do James, just sit here and act like nothing happened? I've never seen anything like that in my life! For all we know the entire planet could be in danger of these things. We have to tell people about this."

'Please God… why are you doing this to me? This can't be the only way. It _can't_ be. Dear God please don't make me do this…'

"Ok, ok. Calm down. Don't you think things will get a little out of hand if you just go spouting this out to people? Just give me some time to figure this out and then I promise it'll all be alright."

She sighs as she turns away from him and heads back into their bedroom so she can shower and attempt to forget the day's events.

_Phew._

'That could have gone better but at least it's contained for now.'

James awoke with a start as the vibration from his beeper caused the device to clatter to the ground with such an ominous force that the Devil himself felt the quake of it. McCloud turned slowly in the sheets to realize that his wife was no longer there. Still in a daze, he looked at the rugged watch on his left wrist.

_11:43_

'Damn. Looks like this whole thing has got me begging for more sleep than I anticipated…'

The beeper.

He leaned groggily over the queen-size bed to stretch his lightly brown-furred arm out to pick the annoying contraption off the floor.

_My office. Now. –General Pepper_

The bed sheets didn't quite have time to settle before the man was out the door and on the way to his car, leaving behind the grim feeling of a reaper lurking just around the corner.

As the fox entered the now-habitual meeting room he was faced with the sober looks of the General and Dr. Andross.

He strode to the middle of the room with a look of worry and confusion in his gazing green eyes. "What happened?" As if enough hadn't happened already.

The General looked towards but not directly at the fox as the doctor shifted position and stared at the wall. "James, we have an issue." Pepper paused, as if to recall his thought, but continued never-the-less. "I received quite the call this morning. _Your wife—_hysterical and furious that she even had to call me. To be honest, I wish she hadn't."

Another pulse and the beating of a heart bound to stop in its tracks.

At times there are situations one finds themselves in that change their lives forever. None of them compares to this moment, a moment of grief and anxiety at the very faculties that an individual should have to take the responsibility of another's actions on their shoulders. An action destined for retribution… the kind of retribution known only from the recesses of Biblical archives.

'I told her… so why did she...' The look on the pilot's face spoke as many silent words as could be found in the dictionary of deaf man. Sorrow, desperation, abandonment—these only begin to describe the utter destruction and havoc being wrought within the fox's soul. 'She couldn't have. She didn't. There's no way because I _told_ her-'

"James." The General brought him back into the realm of reality with a startle. Pepper had never seen the veteran in such bad shape, but it was no wonder, really. "I know I don't have to tell you what this means but…" He paused again as the slightest glimpse of what could be the smallest amount of condensation to ever hang on the old, ragging lids of the hound dog's eyes could be seen blinking into the nothingness of atomic space. "Dammit, James, why didn't you tell me she wanted you out?"

The fox replied indignantly, "You know that I can't just get _out._ There's too much at stake here, General." 'What have I done? My own foolish endeavors for universal _peace_ are causing the downfall of everything I _know _and _love_…'

"I hope you are prepared James. There is no going back. We all know this, right?" He looked around the room a moment before continuing without objections. "_We_ are the final line of defense for this society, gentlemen. You both know that this will be the most difficult venture ever taken in the history of Lylat. Are you willing to stand by this through to the end James? You still have a chance to live your life. You have a beautiful wife and young kit to take care of. We can get you moved somewhere out of the city so that she can't alert anyone else, maybe-"

"….no. We're doing this. That _thing_ followed me from the massacre. They know my face, and they aren't going to stop coming until I'm dead. We can't let anyone know these bastards even exist or the system will break out into a panic." The vulpine looked the General dead in the eyes—telling him without words that he knew what the gravity of the situation called for.

The aging hound dog seemed to grow an even longer face this day. A drooping mash of past sins and future disgraces that would forever linger in his presence until the day he died. "Then you know what must be done." He paused again. "What about... Fox? Did he see it?"

The vulpine firmly replied, "No. I made sure of it yesterday. Other than me, Vixy was-"

'…Vixy'

"I understand, my friend. I know this is difficult but we need you to be the one to do it. I've already gone over a possible plan with Dr. Andross so that we can establish his operations on Venom without scrutiny of the investigators." The General nodded to the ape as the scientist regained awareness and grabbed the documents off of the table to begin going over details.

"Alright," the vulpine started, "what's the plan?"

The day started like any other for the young fox kit. After taking care of his arbitrary morning routine he had headed downstairs for breakfast. The kit paused at the base of the stairs with his tiny vulpine ears laid back in relaxation as he held his head up, nose sniffing the air. He almost had it; the scent of something sweet and savory in the air. But what was it? So close…

Pancakes! And _bacon_! The cub ran into the kitchen as fast as his legs could take him, almost taking out the preparer of the fabulous meal in the process.

"Fox McCloud! You be careful, now. For heaven's sake it's not like you'll never eat again. Did you wash your hands?" The slender vixen said as she caught the cub before he rushed up to the table.

Fox's ears went down to the sides of his head in remorse as he answered humbly, "Yes mom." He paused to look up at her as if asking her silently for permission to begin his morning meal.

Vixy smiled down at her rambunctious son as she shook her head and walked over to the counter to continue cleaning some dishes. "Go on you silly kit, eat up."

He jumped into his chair at the table and quickly went to work on the amazing food. Through a few mouthfuls of food, the quantity of which might just choke a horse, he managed to spout out a short, "When is dad coming home today?"

The vixen began to answer as the phone rang. "He said he wouldn't be gone very long this morning. I think he plans on taking you to the park this afternoon." She moved to pick up the phone and placed it between her chin and her shoulder so she could continue working on the dishes. "McCloud residence. Oh, hey honey…"

Oh boy, the park! He continued to scarf down his food, not paying much attention to the phone call as he raced to finish his meal.

"Yeah, he's right here. Little scamp almost ran me over trying to get to the food this morning. Mhmm. Yeah he's chowing down all right." She flicked an ear and swayed her tail to the side as she dried her hands off and took the phone off her shoulder to move it into her hand again. "Sure hon. Yeah, he should be fine, I'll be right there." She hung the phone up and went to grab her keys, almost at the back door as she turned her head slightly to her son. "That was your father, he forgot some papers this morning. I'm going to take them to him right quick. As soon as you finish go get ready, James shouldn't be too long at work." The vixen grabbed the papers off the counter and went to get in her car.

"Bye mom." Oh man, he couldn't wait! He'd loved going to the park with his dad. Sometimes after the park his dad would even take him to fly with him—he loved flying. It was the best feeling in the world, to be up above all the tiny people on the surface. Whenever he was up there he felt like all his worries just flew away. Like they-

_Clink_.

… vanished.

When Fox woke up all he could see were the ominous shapes of the firemen all around him. What happened? He was eating. He was getting ready to go to the park with his dad. His dad… he called the house for something he needed. That's right, his mom had just-

Mom.

The kit began to thrash in a panic as the firemen tried to keep him restrained. "Calm down kid, you're going to hurt yourself!"

"Where's mom? I need to see her—where's my _mom?!_" Fox wouldn't give up the fight as he continued struggling and finally broke free as one of the firefighters realized what had happened.

"Shit. Poor kid. It's a damn shame…" The chocolate lab shook his head as he motioned to keep the others from chasing after the young fox cub.

The world was spinning for Fox McCloud. He had just been in his house but when he woke up he was outside by the front lawn. After the encounter with the firefighters he looked to where the house was. Most of it, anyways.

The entire driveway was black with soot and burn marks, the air filled with smoke as the fire team worked to put the flames out. There was no longer a car in the driveway.

There was, however, a stout male fox just a few blocks away sitting in the driver's seat of a blue SUV, normally driven by his wife. He put the binoculars down that he'd foolishly brought with him as the smoke from his expired car continued to poor into the air.

He certainly didn't need them to see this. He began to drive towards the building as he sheepishly texted the General.

_Hit confirmed. Time of death: 1123 hrs. Andross should be getting a visit from the Bureau any minute. ~James_


End file.
